“Hannah’s daddy is Daddy’s coach.”
“She’s pretty. Like a princess,” Lucky says after a beat.
I bite back my smile. “Yeah, she is.”
“Will she come back here?”
“I don’t know,” I say honestly. “Do… do youwanther to come back here?”
Lucky sighs again, resting her head back on my arm. “Okay.”
Tears prick the backs of my eyes as a lump forms painfully in my throat, but I swallow down the emotion because I don’t want her to see how much this is affecting me.
Leaning down, I press a kiss to the top of Lucky’s hair that smells of strawberries and cream, my favorite smell. And I relax back against the mountain of pillows, Lucky shifting to lay her little head on my chest as I get to do my favorite, most important job in the whole world—be Lucky’s dad.
Once I know Lucky is fast asleep, I walk back downstairs, stretching my arms up over my head as I pass Allie seated at the island, her face buried inside one of her six-inch thick textbooks, as usual.
“She seems nice…”
I pause, mid-step, turning to her although she doesn’t look up from her book.
“First woman I’ve ever seen come around here.” She glances up then, arching a brow.
“Yep,” is all I can manage.
She narrows an eye, her smile growing. “You like her.”
I roll my eyes, but I can feel my cheeks blushing like a fucking thirteen-year-old.
“Oh my God, you do!” Allie slaps her hand against the stone countertop, slamming her textbook closed.
“Shut up!” I throw my head back on a groan.
“Ohhhh, Happy Slater likes agirl,” she teases.
“Do I need to remind you that not only do I pay you, but I also provide this very roof over your head.” My threat is, ofcourse, empty, and unfortunately for me, she knows it. “Keep it up, punk, and you’ll be back in the dorms by morning.”
“Happy’s got a girlfriend,” Allie sings under her breath.
I shake my head, turning to the fridge and opening the door. “She’s not my girlfriend. We’re just?—”
“Ew, I don’t wanna know the details!” she interjects, stopping me mid-sentence.
I chuckle, pulling out a bottle of water and twisting the cap off, turning back to find her watching me intently, like she’s waiting for more. I ignore her, taking a long pull of cold water, scanning the space which was tidied up while I was upstairs with Lucky.
Honestly, I don’t know what I’d do without Allie. She lives here as Lucky’s nanny, but she’s so much more than that. She’s basically my life manager. Despite having a cleaner who comes every other day, Allie cleans, cooks, and shops. And, yes, I pay her well. Probably a lot better than most nannies. And she has her own rent-free suite that is not only way bigger than any college dorm room but also bigger than most one-bedroom apartments in this city. But one day I’m going to lose her. She’s going to graduate and go off to save lives, and I’m not ready for that because she’s so much more than just Lucky’s nanny; she’s part of our family.
“You gonna apply for the summer research program you were telling me about?” I lean down, resting my forearms against the island counter directly across from her.
“Way to pivot, Slater,” Allie deadpans.
I shrug.
“I don’t think so,” she says like it’s no big deal. Which is a straight-up lie because I overheard her gushing to her sister about it over the phone when I got home from the gym yesterday.
“Why?” My brows knit together in confusion as she goes back to looking at her textbook. “I thought it was a huge deal that you even got invited to apply.”
“It is.” She doesn’t look up from the book, so, like the big brother figure that I am, I casually place my hand over the page and, with a huff, she finally lifts her chin, an unimpressed look on her face.
